Article archive / July 1, 2015
Originally published: . Volume 6, No. 7. Source pages: 7.
In a press release on June 18, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Eastern District Louisiana, announced that 11 individuals – including two physicians and a clinical psychologist – were charged for their roles in five separate fraud schemes based in New Orleans that, combined, submitted close to $110 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare.
Rodney Hesson, PsyD, and Gertrude Parker, were charged for their roles in a $25 million psychological testing program that was carried out through eight companies in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.
Hesson and Parker owned and operated Nursing Home Psychological Service (NHPS) and Psychological Care Services (PCS), and each had separate companies in Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida and Alabama. The indictment alleges that these companies contracted with nursing homes in these states to allow NHPS and PCS clinical psychologists to administer psychological tests to nursing home residents, said the U.S. Attorney.
Dr. Hesson and Parker caused these companies to bill Medicare for psychological testing services that these nursing home residents did not need or in some instances did not receive, said the news release. Between 2009 and 2015, NHPS and PCS submitted over $25.2 million in claims to Medicare.
According to a report by Psychiatric Crime Database, Hesson was convicted of Medicaid fraud in 2012, in Picayune, Mississippi. The report noted that “Hesson threw himself on the mercy of Circuit Court Judge Anthony Mozingo by entering an open plea.”
The report also notes that an investigation uncovered that Hesson would meet once with a patient, then bill for multiple services. The report notes that Hesson, a Slidell psychologist, closed his office in Picayune in 2008. However, the current charges suggest that he was billing Medicare from 2009 to 2015.
Other indictments, according to court documents, were Elaine Davis, Pramela Ganji, M.D., and Godwin Ogboukiri, M.D., for their involvement in a home health care fraud scheme carried out through Christian Home Health Care, Inc. (Christian). Separately, a grand jury sitting in New Orleans charged Sheila White with defrauding Medicare in connection with the alleged provision of psychotherapy services to Medicare beneficiaries.
One source told the Times, there will be more indictments coming.
An indictment is only a charge, and defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
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